Neighboring Counties

Resources

Getting Started

Three great places to start Bedford County family history research are:

Byron and Samuel Sistler's Every Name Index to 18 Middle Tennessee County Record Books (Nashville, Tenn.: Byron Sistler & Associates, Inc., 1992) FHL US/CAN 976.8 P22sb. The Sistlers created a comprehensive index to nine publications about this county's records. It also reaches to nearby Giles and Lincoln counties.

GSC Associates Historical Record Products has published 30 CDs with images or abstracts of Bedford County genealogical sources (including Bible, cemetery, church, court, marriage, probate, and tax records). They have many free indexes on their website. The CDs are for sale individually for reasonable fees, or, if you are doing indepth research, you might want to consider purchasing one comprehensive CD that includes all 30 of their previous publications. Website.

Use the free Search for Surnames at Mountain Press's website to quickly search a variety of published Bedford County military and probate records. To determine which books are being searched, or to search each publication's index individually, click here. You are now equipped with a checklist of books to pull off the shelves at a genealogy library, or a wish list for your personal book collection.

"Bedford County Genealogical Records Survey," The Middle Tennessee Journal of Genealogy and History, Vol. 2, No. 4 (Spring 1989). For possible FHL and online access, as well as indexes, see Periodicals.

"Checklist for Searching Middle Tennessee before 1820," The Middle Tennessee Journal of Genealogy and History, Vol. 12, No. 1 (Summer 1998). For possible FHL and online access, as well as indexes, see Periodicals.

1820, 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 federal population schedules of Bedford County are available online. For tips on accessing census records online, see Tennessee Census. If you're having trouble finding your ancestors in online indexes, try checking printed indexes. Created by local experts familiar with the area's families, these indexes are often transcribed more accurately than nationwide online indexes.

Church

Church records include baptisms, marriages and burials, as well as information about family members and clues about family migration. For additional information about church records, religions, and religious archives in Tennessee, see Tennessee Church Records.

In 1936, a helpful guide to early Bedford County church records was published by the Works Project Administration. [8]Use this guide to locate which church records exist and where they were housed in 1936. The Tennessee State Library and Archives has filmed some of these records. To locate which records are available at the TSLA, go to the appropriate "county fact sheet" on the TSLA Web site and scroll down to "selected manuscript material". All filmed church records at the TSLA for Bedford county are listed.

W.P.A. New Hope Lutheran Church Records, 1805-1836, Bedford County, Tennessee. Typescript, TSLA. Microfilmed in 1939. FHL US/CAN Film 24589 Item 6. Free index, available online, thanks to Steve Carson through GSC Associates Historical Records Products (the pages may load slowly). For a reasonable fee, the company sells Bedford County CDs, one of which includes a digitized version of this book.

[1867-1900] Sistler, Byron and Barbara Sistler. Vital Statistics from 19th Century Tennessee Church Records. Nashville: Sitler and Associates, 1979. FHL 976.8 K29s vol.1 Index to original Church of the Redeemer Records.

Court

Chancery Court

GSC Associates Historical Records Products has digitized and indexed Bedford County Chancery Court records, using TSLA microfilms and paper copies at the Bedford County Archives as their sources, for the years 1830 through 1859. Images of the records (as they appear on microfilm) are available for purchase for reasonable fees on CD. The following indexes, thanks to Brenda Carson, Steve Carson, Martha Mendez, and Allison Saxman are available to view for free on their website:

GSC Associates Historical Records Products has digitized and indexed Bedford County County Court records, using TSLA microfilms as their source, for the years 1848 through 1874. Images of the records (as they appear on microfilm), are available for purchase for reasonable fees on CD. The following indexes, thanks to Brenda Carson, Steve Carson, Loretta Kelldorf, Bobby McFarlin, Patti McFarlin, and Lucy D. Zeier, are available to view for free on their website:

Genealogy

Land

Deeds

Bedford County Register of Deeds has Land Records from 1808 and is located at the Courthouse. Land and property records include transfer of real estate or personal property, mortgages, leases, surveys, and entries. In 1965, the Tennessee Department of Education microfilmed Bedford County's Deed Books, Trust Deed Books, and Indexes covering the years 1808 to 1966. FHL copies: FHL&amp;amp;nbsp;US/CAN&amp;amp;nbsp;Films 476342 ff. (Includes typed indexes to the burned volumes made from the register's notebook, ca. 1852-1861).

The organization Strictly By Name provides free online indexes to early Bedford County land records. They offer a research service to photocopy and transcribe microfilm copies of the original documents for a small fee. Available indexes:

Selected Deeds from "Tennessee Trails" through Bedford County has abstracts of selected deeds of Bedford county. They are from an unidentified book in the Shelbyville Library

Land Grants

Land grant book 1808-1809; and Land book 1824-1925 are available at FHL.

Law and Legislation

Tennessee State Library and Archives, Acts of Tennessee 1796-1850: Index to Names. January 25, 2005. [In addition to creating new laws, legislative acts were often required to obtain a divorce, grant legitimacy to a child, or for appointments to or grant payments for public service.] TSLA has created an index to names that appear in these acts covering the years 1796 to 1850. To read more about this valuable resource Click here. The searchable index is available at The TSLA; another version is available at World Vital Records.

Local Histories

Maps

[1835] Map of Bedford County, TN. Originally published 1835. Purchase at ReevesMaps.com; website includes a scaled-down version of the map.

[1800s] Map of Bedford County, TN. Provenance unknown, includes civil districts, cities, towns, etc. Purchase at ReevesMaps.com; website includes a scaled-down version of the map.

[1878] Map of Bedford County, TN. Originally published 1878. Purchase at ReevesMaps.com; website includes a scaled-down version of the map.

Military

Revolutionary War

The following Bedford County Revolutionary War records are available online through TNGenWeb:

Civil War service men from Bedford County served in various regiments. Men often joined a regiment or a company (within a regiment) that originated in their county. Listed below are the military units that were formed in or had many men from Bedford County.

Newspapers

Many Tennessee newspapers are filmed and available at the TSLA. Most of these newspapers may be accessed by interlibrary loan to libraries within Tennessee, although there are some newspapers which are not available in or outside of Tennessee. For further information regarding interlibrary loan policies and newspapers not available for interlibrary loan click here. For a list of newspapers available at the archives for Bedford County click on the following city:

Periodicals

Tap into the minds of local experts. Editors of genealogical periodicals publish unique sources that researchers who are new to their area would not likely discover. This type of material may be found in local, regional, or statewide genealogical society journals. The following periodicals cover this county:

Ansearchin' News

Genealogical articles with abstracts of Bedford County, Tennessee Genealogy records have been published in Ansearchin' News, the quarterly magazine of the Tennessee Genealogical Society. To view a list of these articles, visit their county index. To read digitized versions of the first 36 years of articles (Vols. 1-36), browse their archive or conduct a surname search. The Family History Library has a complete collection of the Ansearchin' News quarterly FHL Book 976.8 B2a.

Bedford County Historical Quarterly

The Bedford County Historical Society first met in 1954. In July 1965, the society was formally organized.The Family History Library has most issues beginning with Spring 1975 and is kept current. Vol. 11, no. 4 (winter 1985), v. 12, no. 4 (winter 1986) and v. 24, no. 4 (winter 1998) are special editions which include indexes to previous quarterlies. FHL US/CAN 976.8583 B2bFor additional information see website: Bedford County Historical Society.Indexed in PERiodical Source Index (PERSI).

Probate

The County Court Clerk has responsibility for Bedford County probate records.

FamilySearch has placed scans of the following records online in the Tennessee, Probate Court Books, 1795-1927 collection. These are browse-only collections. Handwritten indexes may be found at the front or back of some volumes:

Bonds, 1954-1965, Vol. 1

Bonds, Letters, 1869-1965

Bonds, Settlements, 1861-1965

Claims against estates, 1921-1923

Court records, 1870-1902

Inventories, Wills, 1863-1965

Settlements 1860-1965

Wills 1847-1966

The following Bedford County probate records have been indexed or abstracted:

[1830-1910] Marsh, Helen C. and Timothy R. Marsh. Bedford County, Tennessee Wills. Shelbyville, Tennessee: Marsh Historical Publications, 1984. Indexes and abstracts of wills from both the Chancery Court and the County Court. Includes extant and reconstructed records from before the 1863 courthouse fire. (FHL book 976.8583 P28b.)

Vital Records

Marriages

The original Bedford County marriage records are kept at the County Courthouse. Marriage records were originally kept in boxes, called drawers. Most of these records were copied into bound volumes. Both the drawer records and volumes are microfilmed.

[1854-1976] Marriages records organized by drawer begin in 1853. These marriages and bonds are indexed by Helen Marsh. This index is included in the film group.FHL 1572800

[1861-1965] Marriages in volumes are filmed and available at TSLA. FHL 476043

Many early Bedford County marriage records are lost. The following publication, based on early newspapers that survived courthouse fires, may serve as a substitute:

[1861-1864] W.P.A. Marriage Records, 1861-1864, Bedford County, Tennessee. Typescript, TSLA. FHL 24589 Item 5. Free index, available online, thanks to Steve Carson through GSC Associates Historical Records Products (the pages may load slowly). For a reasonable fee, the company sells Bedford County CDs, one of which includes a digitized version of this book.

East Tennessee Historical CenterStreet Address:601 South Gay St. Knoxville, Tennessee 37901-1629Phone: 1-865-215-8824Web site: http://www.easttnhistory.org/E-mail: eths@east-tennessee-history.org Mailing Address: PO Box 1629, Knoxville, TN 37901-1629Hours: (Eastern Time): Mon. and Tues. 9 a.m.-8:30 p.m.; Wed., Thurs. and Fri. 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Sat. 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sun.1 p.m.-5 p.m.The East Tennessee Historical Center is the home of the East Tennessee Historical Society. The center has a museum, exhibits and programs regarding the East Tennessee History. The associated Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection ranks among the top research and genealogical libraries in the Southeast because of the rare manuscript collections, an extensive photograph collection, maps, and books. The McClung Collection is your gateway to exploring the family and history of the East Tennessee region.

Family History Centers

Societies

Middle Tennessee Genealogical SocietyPO Box 330948Nashville, TN, USA 37203-7507The society serves the 40 counties of middle Tennessee of which Bedford County is one. It publishes The Middle Tennessee Journal of Genealogy & History, a quarterly containing articles of genealogical and historical interest. Little-known Tennessee records are published and indexed, along with family genealogies, Bible records and material submitted by members. There is an alphabetical Index to articles in the Journal 1988-summer 2005